by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
A sermon is good if it is scripturally full and accurate because all scripture is good (II Timothy 3:16-17). The delivery may be lacking in some way because of human weakness both on the delivery end and on the receiving end. That always needs constant attention on giving the best effort, but the sermon needs to be organized well and taken from the scriptures in order to please God and do the most eternal good for the hearer. A sermon is not good if it is devoid of scripture and only tickles ears (II Timothy 4:1-4) as interesting, humorous, or motivational as a temporal kind of pep talk.<\/p>\n
Does it motivate one to seek God’s word and His will for greater understanding and change of direction (James 1:18-21)? If not, it is not a good sermon. It may entertain and motivate toward some worldly goal but does not present the mind of God and express His will for our transformation into His image, which is the correct goal.<\/p>\n
A sermon is not good if it is geared to feature oratory skill (glorifying the speaker) instead of glorifying God. It must be about the Father’s will and that to His glory, not about bringing the most compliments to the speaker’s style of delivery (I Corinthians 2:2). Paul did not want it to be about his oratory skill, but about centering on Jesus, getting the focus on the Lord and the message of the cross. It is not a good sermon if it is a fishing expedition for human compliments and praise of men. A good sermon is aimed at pleasing God, pointing people to Jesus, and bringing glory to God.<\/p>\n
These are a few things to remember in preparing sermons. But all must prepare themselves to be ready and hungry to hear and obey the will of God as it is rightly presented. Let us all hunger for the word of God, and those who publicly present lessons to souls should preach the word diligently (II Timothy 2:15).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton A sermon is good if it is scripturally full and accurate because all scripture is good (II Timothy 3:16-17). The delivery may be lacking in some way because of human weakness both on the delivery end and on the receiving end. That always needs constant attention on giving the best effort,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-40491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":88512,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-comment-worth-remembering\/","url_meta":{"origin":40491,"position":0},"title":"A Comment Worth Remembering","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Something Jeff Hogan said years ago has stuck with me. The sermon that day was on some specific sin. Jeff commented that if we don't preach on things like that, the members will think it's OK to do them. He was right! From time to time, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18388,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-say-as-an-invitation-at-the-end-of-a-sermon\/","url_meta":{"origin":40491,"position":1},"title":"What do you say as an “invitation” at the end of a sermon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning Mr. Hamilton, Could you give me some examples of what to say as an \"invitation\" when I'm done with a sermon? Thank you, sir. Answer: An \"invitation\" at the close of a sermon is a tradition and not a requirement. Not that it is a bad tradition,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17823,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-do-sermon-ideas-come-from\/","url_meta":{"origin":40491,"position":2},"title":"Where Do Sermon Ideas Come From?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Timothy 4:6-16 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is hard to come up with ideas to write about constantly. We speak of \u201cwriter\u2019s block.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A preacher typically gives about 100 lessons per year plus teaches classes. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But finding and selecting topics can be hard, even if all you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hard-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":40491,"position":3},"title":"Hard Preaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Guy F. Hester Recently someone told me that I am a hard preacher. This could be either good or bad, depending on what is meant by hard preaching. In the context of the conversation, I took it as a compliment to my firm stance for my convictions. Many people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/hammer-and-rock-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":51820,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-not-offer-an-invitation-at-the-end-of-a-sermon\/","url_meta":{"origin":40491,"position":4},"title":"Is it a sin to not offer an invitation at the end of a sermon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I understand there is a sin of omission, James 4:17. I attend a congregation where the preacher never preaches the gospel, hear, believe, repent, confess, and be baptized for the remission of sins. He preaches the truth and is very scriptural in all of his lessons; however, he very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54812,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-sermon-shed-light-on-an-issue-we-were-facing\/","url_meta":{"origin":40491,"position":5},"title":"Your sermon shed light on an issue we were facing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day brother Jeffrey, Thank you for helping me clarify some issues which I faced. I read the sermon,\u00a0Who Is Responsible? It shed some light for us here, together with an explanation of the Individual-Group distinction. I thank our God Almighty for your website. It helps so many people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}